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Practice report

IndyCar Detroit: Rossi tops second practice stalled by red flags

Alexander Rossi emerged fastest for Andretti Autosport in second practice for the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix, in a session stopped five times for on-track incidents.

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda

Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

No cars had set a flying lap by the time the first incident occurred, as FP1 pacesetter Kyle Kirkwood was struggling with the brakes on his AJ Foyt car.

After he let David Malukas by on his outside at Turn 7, he couldn’t slow down sufficiently and went back down the inside of the bemused Malukas, but his former Indy Lights rival hadn’t spotted him and the pair made wheel-to-wheel contact, to see Kirkwood slide head on into the tyre barrier and Malukas went down the escape road.

At the restart Romain Grosjean of Andretti Autosport was the first driver to set a representative lap time of a 1m16.7467s, followed by a 1m16.3981s with 30 minutes to go.

At that point, it put him 0.666s ahead of the next fastest driver Simon Pagenaud for Meyer Shank Racing, as Josef Newgarden sprung his Team Penske into third just before the red flag fell for Jimmie Johnson spinning as he left the pits.

Once he’d been bump-started, Pagenaud trimmed his deficit to Grosjean down to 0.31s, and Pato O’Ward inserted his Arrow McLaren SP into third.

Then Dalton Kellett’s Foyt car struck the Turn 14 wall hard, bringing out the third red flag of the session. As everyone switched to alternates, Will Power spun his car exiting Turn 11, kept it off the wall but stalled, so out came another red flag.

Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

When the session restarted, Pagenaud and Castroneves created an MSR 1-2, with Pagenaud being first driver into the 1m15s, until their semi team-mate Alexander Rossi went top with a 1min15.8101s.

But then Pagenaud suddenly stopped on track late into the session, which effectively ended FP2 early with no further improvements, to see Rossi take top spot from Pagenaud and Newgarden.

With Castroneves in fourth, Malukas landed in fifth ahead of Scott McLaughlin and Felix Rosenqvist as he bounced back from a crash in Friday’s opening practice session.

IndyCar Detroit GP qualifying will start at 12.35pm local time (5.35pm BST).

IndyCar Detroit GP - FP2 results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Mph
1 United States Alexander Rossi United States Andretti Autosport 17 1'15.810   111.595
2 France Simon Pagenaud United States Meyer Shank Racing 16 1'15.880 0.070 111.491
3 United States Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske 20 1'15.911 0.101 111.445
4 Brazil Helio Castroneves United States Meyer Shank Racing 19 1'16.041 0.231 111.255
5 United States David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD 17 1'16.118 0.307 111.143
6 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin United States Team Penske 23 1'16.255 0.444 110.944
7 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist United States Arrow McLaren SP 15 1'16.262 0.452 110.932
8 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco United States Andretti Autosport 17 1'16.335 0.525 110.827
9 Spain Alex Palou United States Chip Ganassi Racing 23 1'16.384 0.574 110.755
10 France Romain Grosjean United States Andretti Autosport 16 1'16.398 0.588 110.736
11 Japan Takuma Sato United States Dale Coyne Racing 19 1'16.434 0.624 110.683
12 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Arrow McLaren SP 16 1'16.995 1.185 109.877
13 New Zealand Scott Dixon United States Chip Ganassi Racing 17 1'17.103 1.292 109.723
14 Sweden Marcus Ericsson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 19 1'17.130 1.320 109.685
15 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout United States Ed Carpenter Racing 14 1'17.361 1.550 109.357
16 United States Santino Ferrucci Juncos Hollinger Racing 17 1'17.372 1.562 109.342
17 United States Colton Herta United States Andretti Autosport 16 1'17.438 1.628 109.249
18 Denmark Christian Lundgaard United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 16 1'17.723 1.913 108.848
19 Australia Will Power United States Team Penske 18 1'18.003 2.193 108.457
20 United States Graham Rahal United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 14 1'18.329 2.518 108.006
21 United States Jimmie Johnson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 15 1'19.197 3.387 106.822
22 United States Conor Daly United States Ed Carpenter Racing 19 1'19.202 3.392 106.815
23 United Kingdom Jack Harvey United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 21 1'19.220 3.410 106.791
24 Canada Dalton Kellett United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 11 1'19.424 3.614 106.517
25 Colombia Tatiana Calderon United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 18 1'19.500 3.690 106.415
26 United States Kyle Kirkwood United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 0      

 

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